Elon Musk surprise appearance as Tesla tweet trial wraps up

Like everyone else in the courtroom, he was wearing a mask, as required by US District Judge Edward Chen, but briefly dropped it as he chuckled and whispered something to one of his lawyers.

Elon Musk departs the Phillip Burton Federal Building and United States Court House in San Francisco (Benjamin Fanjoy/AP)

A high-profile trial focused on a 2018 tweet about the financing for a Tesla buyout that never happened drew a surprise spectator on Friday — Elon Musk, the billionaire accused of misleading investors with his usage of the Twitter service he now owns.

Mr Musk, the CEO of both Tesla and Twitter, strode into the San Francisco federal courtroom moments before closing arguments from the opposing lawyer in the case were scheduled to begin and took a seat alongside his legal team.